14/09/2026
WIX-ORIGEN CRT – ROUND 5 RACE REPORT
111/ GT Sports & Saloons | Regional Extreme Festival | Zwartkops Raceway
Round 5 of the DigitFMS 111 GT Sports & Saloons Regional Extreme Festival brought us back home to Zwartkops Raceway for a weekend that had a little bit of everything.
Friday practice started strongly for Ernest Heather in the WIX Origen CRT #18 Polo, showing good pace early on before a dead right-front shock brought proceedings to a halt., Ernest rushed off to KONI SA, sourced a replacement and got the car back on track. The reward was a new personal best of 1:11.1 – a time that meant the #18 had not only broken out of Class B, but also incredibly close to the class A breakout too.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Visser in the #21 Polo headed out to bed in a fresh set of brakes, but a exhaust manifold cracking in the session left much of
Friday spent getting the manifold repaired before finally making it back out for the last practice session. In which he misjudged the turn-in of a slower car leaving the Polo 6RZ with some minor body damage and giving Mike a late afternoon appointment with the wheel-alignment equipment.
Raceday - SATURDAY!
Qualifying saw Jonathan put the #21 on pole in GTB, with his closest GTB championship rival, JP Nortje, unfortunately breaking out of the class and moving into GTA, Ernest had a tougher time finding clear track in the busy 111 qualifying session.Despite the traffic, the #18 sat on pole for much of qualifying before Lindsay Clurr pipped him right at the end. That meant Ernest would start his first Class A race from second in class and second overall – right on the front row.
GT RACE 1 – Close Racing Between Mates
Race 1 saw Jonathan lose a position early to good mate Shaun Holtshausen, and what followed was exactly the kind of racing we came for. The pair tussled for much of the race, swapping positions and enjoying a proper fight until Shaun's Honda unfortunately suffered an engine-mount failure, which sheared an oil-cooler fitting and brought his race to an early end.With Shaun sidelined, Jonathan brought the #21 Polo home safely to claim 1st place in GTB and bank some important championship points.
111 RACE 1. TASTING A CLASS A PODIUM
Nerves were at a high as Ernest lined the #18 up on the front row for his first Class A.
By Turn 1, Ernest had made his move on Lindsay Clurr and found himself leading the race outright, but with seasoned campaigner Craig Priestly charging hard behind him . He held the overall lead for close to two laps before Priestly eventually found a way through, then had to defend from Clurr and managed to keep him behind until the final lap, alas Lindsay finally got the better of him.Ernest crossed the line 3rd overall and on the podium in his very first Class A race.
GT RACE 2 – DOUBLE GTB VICTORY
Shaun and his crew worked hard to repair the Honda CRX and made it back onto the grid for Race 2, and we were looking forward to round two of the battle.
Unfortunately though, The Honda suffered an engine failure and was left trackside, We from there settled into his rhythm, paced the #21 Polo to the finish and secured another GTB victory, completing a double GTB win for the weekend.
111 RACE 2 – #18 FINDS SILVER
Ernest started the second 111 heat from 3rd overall and wasted no time getting quickly making his way into second place on the opening lap.
For much of the race, he focused forward, chasing down race leader Craig Priestly and showing that his Race 1 performance wasn't a fluke.but the pressure began coming from behind, with Lindsay Clurr closing in and forcing Ernest to switch from attack to defence.
He absorbed the pressure and held on all the way to the flag to take a 2nd overall – his best race result of the season! Ernest walked away with 3rd overall in Class A for the day, an awesome achievement in his very first Class A outing.
A WEEKEND OF MOSTLY HIGHS!
Round 5 was another weekend that reminded us exactly why we love this sport.
Ernest's improvement in the #18 has been exceptional. A new 1:11.1 personal best, a move into Class A, an outright race lead, P3 in his first heat, P2 in his second and 3rd overall in Class A for the day made this comfortably one of his strongest weekends of the season.
For Jonathan and the #21, two GTB victories made it an important weekend for the championship. Even if we did manage to give the bodywork department some extra work along the way!
As always, none of this happens without the people and companies who continue to back us:A massive thank you to WIX Filters Southern Africa, Origen Oil, TurboDirect S.A, 959 Panelbeaters & Spraypainters – thanks for the awesome custom bumper… and sorry we broke it again! – RBTS Racing, Auto Express - Car Service & Repair - Boksburg and Hydrodynamics for your continued support.
To Michael Howard, for the unwavering, never-say-die support and for continuously putting our race cars back together no matter what we throw at him.
Philly for always bringing your big smile and keeping the cars looking pristine, even after a James Bond style oil drop in front of us in Race 1.
To Stacey Visser and Amber, for always being at our side when it counts.
SportLight ZA - as always epic in capturing the moment - Thank you , David Ledbitter and Colin Windell thank you for the other awesome trackside images.
And finally, to the hordes of supporters who made the trip from Boksburg, made plenty of noise and, in some cases, even bared their rears in support…We appreciate every single one of you!
Plenty of repairs. Plenty of laughs. That's another race weekend in the books for Wix-Origen CRT.
On to the next one! The penultimate round at Red Star Raceway - 10 October! - But before that some action with Silver Cup Racing 2.0 back at Zwartkops Raceway
